BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham mayor William Bell will address the state of technology in the city at the Alabama Social Media Association’s first ever Tech Tweetup. The July 13 event, which is free and open to the public, will also feature networking and a light dinner.

“ALsocme is proud to partner with the City of Birmingham, among others,” says Kristen R. Heptinstall, ALscome executive director. “And we’re thrilled Mayor Bell will be sharing the latest developments on Birmingham’s advances as a digital leader.”

The Tech Tweetup will be held July 13 at Old Car Heaven, 115 35th St. S., Avondale. Networking will be held from 5 to 6 p.m., with the mayor’s address from 6 to 6:30, followed by more networking until 8 p.m.

It is sponsored by My Green Birmingham (mygreenbirmingham.com), the city’s only green living site. A light dinner will be provided by catering sponsor Ted’s Restaurant (tedsbirmingham.com), a family-owned Greek meat-and-three restaurant and caterer on Southside. Cash bar will be available.

The Tweetup will also feature representatives from ALsocme’s 17 partner organizations.

Tickets are free, but attendees must register by visiting alsocme.com.

The Alabama Social Media Association (ALsocme), is an independent, grassroots nonprofit group, open to anyone who wishes to share ideas or advance their knowledge of social media and how it is used by businesses, organizations, and consumers. Its mission is education: empowering people with social media tools and knowledge to help them meet professional and personal goals.

ALsocme executive director Kristen R. Heptinstall is available for interviews to discuss Birmingham’s role as a leader in technology. To arrange an interview or to set up event coverage, please contact Erin Street at e.shawstreet@gmail.com or (205) 249-0750.

This workshop will give college students an opportunity to hear from decision makers in media organizations—managing editors, and news managers with the ability to hire and fire.

Take this opportunity to learn exactly what skills are needed to work in the 21st century newsroom. BABJ hopes to assist students in maximizing their potential for success in obtaining internships and entry level jobs.

The organization has grown from a dozen journalists who could fit around a table at the Birmingham Press Club to an organization of more than 50 members including print, broadcast news, public relations and marketing professionals. We are affiliated with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

BABJ continues to promote the employment and retention of media professionals while seeking to provide opportunities for professional growth and development. We also offer scholarships and guidance to students considering careers in the media.

Food Blog South, a regional conference for Southern food bloggers, is set for January 22, 2011 in Birmingham, Ala. Award-winning New York Times food writer Kim Severson, author of Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life will talk about food writing; and culinary literary agent Lisa Ekus-Saffer of the Lisa Ekus Group will talk about how bloggers can become cookbook authors.

The day’s sessions also include:
• Food photography and styling taught by Southern Living senior photographer Jennifer Davick and Southern Living food stylist and test kitchen professional Marian Cooper-Cairns.
• Marketing your blog with Christy Jordan, blogger at Southern Plate (averaging 13 million page views a month) and author of Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family (currently #2 on Amazon.com’s Southern Cooking, Food & Wine category)
• Making the most of social media with two-time Shorty Award winner John-Bryan Hopkins, “The Foodimentary Guy”
• Recipe development with Virginia Willis, author of Bon Appétit, Y’all! and former Kitchen Director for Martha Stewart Living Television, and Alison Lewis, cookbook author and recipe developer for clients like Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Better Homes & Gardens
• A panel on writing and blogging about Southern seafood after the Deepwater Horizon explosion
• “Hungry for More: How Blogging Keeps Customers Coming Back for More,” a session on building food businesses with blogging, by Wade Kwon of Birmingham Blogging Academy.

The conference will be held at Woodrow Hall in the historic Woodlawn district of Birmingham. Discounted hotel rates are available at The Hotel Highland located in Five Points South, near a number of great restaurants including Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar & Grill and Chris Hastings’ Hot & Hot Fish Club.

Sponsorships, which include workshop registration and display space, are available at several levels. “We’re especially interested in getting some up-and-coming food businesses as sponsors—the start-ups that are still in kitchen incubators that are doing great things that no one knows about,” Chavis said. “We’d like to connect bloggers with these new, great finds.” Sponsors will be able to attend the workshop, including a special session on blogging for small food businesses and restaurants.

Join us next Tuesday as Ed Hart presents a “how-to” on creating professional quality videos for websites. Moderated by Randall Vaughn, Ed will show us the ins and outs of online videos from start to finish.

Bring your questions and notebooks–you’ll be getting a lot of useful information.

Join us Tuesday, October 19 at 6:00 p.m. at the Birmingham News. We’ll network from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m., and the program will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.

But the channel itself is going off the air in 2010. On Jan. 1, Bright House Networks is moving public access programming to its “In Demand” channels for government, religion and sports. Those channels are in the digital tier.

When asked how many Bright House subscribers pay for basic cable vs. digital cable, a company official replied that he “didn’t know.” For comparison, competitor Time Warner Cable has 14.6 million basic cable subscribers and 8.8 million digital tier subscribers. Such a move could shrink the audience for public access programs by 60 percent or more.

The programming will continue to be available through the cable system’s “on demand” feature.

Among the programs affected are Birmingham city council meetings, “Birmingham Public Library Presents,” “Real Arts Birmingham,” “Moving Forward from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute” and “The Best of the Sidewalk Film Festival.”

Bright House is the sole cable operator for the City of Birmingham as well as other nearby cities.

Although cable companies are required by the federal government to carry public access channels, some markets have cut their channels because of low viewership or lax city requirements. Time Warner closed 12 Los Angeles public access studios providing programming for 11 channels in January.

Nearly 40 people attended our October event at the Redmont Hotel. Thanks to U.S. Rep. Artur Davis for talking about Election 2008, along with Anna Ruth Williams of Empower Alabama for registering last-minute voters.

Also, thanks to Christina Tutor and Rick Sutton for the photography.

And thanks to Cary Estes and Cutressa Williams and for serving as our hospitality volunteers, and Chianti Cleggett and Atticus Rominger for setting up the event.

Be sure to check out all the great photos, and if you’re in them, let us know! (Or tag yourself in the Facebook album.)

Welcome

Welcome to Media of Birmingham, a news and information site about journalism, advertising, public relations, new media and marketing based in Birmingham, Ala. The site went online in 2006, and the group behind it was founded in 2003.